Google facing torrent of personal data removal requests in EU

updated 09:01 pm EDT, Wed May 14, 2014

by MacNN Staff

Ruling by Court of Justice opens door to users 'right to be forgotten'

Hours after a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, search engine giant Google is already receiving requests to purge "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant" personal engine from search results. Google has not as of yet figured our how to handle the requests or generated a workflow to evaluate the legitimacy of the demands.

"A simple way of understanding what happened here is that you have a collision between a right to be forgotten and a right to know. From Google's perspective that's a balance," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt of the court's ruling. "Google believes having looked at the decision, which is binding, that the balance that was struck was wrong."

Google spokesman Al Verney said of the ruling that the company was "very surprised that it differs so dramatically from the Advocate General's opinion, and the warnings and consequences that he spelled out. We now need to take time to analyze the implications." Google will have to both implement and police takedown requests, to insure both legitimacy as well as the appropriateness of a given request.

Should Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft fail to comply with any enacted "right to be forgotten" law, it could be fined as much as two percent of its global yearly revenue. All of the search engines will have to field "an army of removal experts" in each of the European Union's 28 countries, regardless if the corporation has an existing presence, according to Reuters.

TAGS

5 Comments

Who the hell has the right to know my personal info?! Certainly NOT Google!

The fact is this hits Google right in the money basket. While Google states all's fair in business by giving away "free" solutions that others have spent R&D developing (Office, iOS, cloud services), Google now all of sudden cries foul when the very essence of its revenue cow, personal data, is threatened with voluntary removal. Doesn't feel too good does it Schmidt to have someone just arbitrarily take your jewels?!!

While I agree with the sentiment that users should retain control over their personal information and that internet entities should comply with takedown requests concerning personal information that the person doesn't want used for marketing purposes, let us all remember that Google doesn't know anything about us that we didn't explicitly or implicitly tell them.

*We* are the biggest and most prominent threats to our own privacy, not Google, Facebook, et al. Facebook and/or Google don't know a thing about me that I didn't put on the internet voluntarily, either through my account information, use of the GMail servers, or posted on social networks.

It's not Google's responsibility to protect my personal information and keep my secrets secret -- it's my responsibility. Willingly putting information into Google's database, then telling Google, "Hey, that info I just told you? It's a secret. Don't tell anyone," is just asinine. Secrets are no longer secrets once you tell someone, including entities such as Google/Facebook, and "private" information is no longer private once you put it on the internet.

Just like making a video of yourself and putting it on a public access TV channel, then turning around and telling people not to watch the video or use the information you disclosed in the video is asinine, so is putting something on the internet and expecting any level of control over who views that information.

Quit being so God damned irresponsible with your "private" information, people. You can't blame or expect Google to take responsibility for being loose with your information seeing as how you, yourself, being loose with your information is why Google knows about it to begin with.

Google knows all kinds of things about you you didn't tell them. The web is absolutely littered with tracking cookies and googles adds. They use this to learn almost everything about you. And it take s a Herculean amount of effort to prevent it. It's not like tv adds where they have no idea who or when watched it. They know every time you visit a page. And if even if you block all the cookies and don't sign up for a google account they still get you're ip address. Now they just need 1 time to map that ip address like for example you send an email to someone who has a gmail account.

I don't think anyone signed up for Gmail, Google+ or YouTube just so they could give Google their personal information...it was for the "free" services those entities provided. Granted, the fine type explains all the usages afforded Google, but who really takes the time or employs the service of a legal counsel to explain the ramifications of those terms.

I agree we should not be so cavalier about giving out personal information. The real point being made here, however, is why such companies are entitled to maintain that information even after said services are no longer used or when accounts are permanently closed. At the very least, like this EU initiative, a person should be allowed to request that Google remove their personal data from further use by the company.

"At the very least, like this EU initiative, a person should be allowed to request that Google remove their personal data from further use by the company."

I agree wholeheartedly. While I've got no qualms about what data Google collects on me as I traverse their site from service to service, and as long as I agree to let them use that data to target ads toward me across their services, then I should also be able to opt-out of that agreement whenever I please as well, contingent on the cessation of my use of their services, taking steps to guarantee the removal of any personalized data that Google holds on me.

The internet isn't a magical cloaking device meant to automatically keep one's activites hidden from the rest of the people using and managing the internet and its services. It's akin to shopping in a mall, where any passers-by can see what you're purchasing, what stores you go into, what stores you avoid, what food you ate at the food court, what you wrote on the bathroom stall wall, and what people you associate with while at the mall, provided you don't put effort into cloaking your goings-about (i.e., most people).

And, just like a mall, on the internet, if you want to hide what you're doing and where you're going, you must take your own steps to ensure that you're not spotted doing it. In a mall, maybe you wear a hoodie and cap slung low. On the internet, maybe you use a VPN. In a mall, maybe you pay in cash so it's untraceable. On the internet, maybe it's Bitcoin.

The point being that relative anonymity for an individual browsing away on the internet is not a base-level "right," just as it isn't in real life. Google knows what it knows because you didn't take at all or took an improper number of steps to ensure your anonymity, if relative anonymity is your goal. It's the internet users' responsibility to protect their anonymity and actions and information, not the entities providing services on the internet.

This new legislation for users to be able to press the "Delete all" button on various services across the internet is a step in the right direction in helping users take steps to make sure that only the information they want to get out gets out. It also provides them with a way to back out later, perhaps from remorse or a due to a drunken haze.

Login Here

Please note that it takes a couple of minutes for new comments to be visible in this area.

&nbsp

Now AAPL Stock: The symbol you provided ("AAPL") doesn't appear to be registered

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer628d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

628d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry628d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting628d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage628d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor629d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE